Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 95

7 a.m. KDKA: This Morning in Cuba: Jane Robelot, Martha Stewart; Gene Siskel; relaxation gadgets. (CC) 16946 7 a.m. WTAE: Good Morning America Trie papal visit to Cuba; Super Bowl preview; chef Emeril Lagasse. (CC) 60994 7 a.m.

WPXI: Today Denver Bronco John Elway; "The Lion King" cast performs; fitness. (CC) 90946 9am.WTAE:Rsgis&Kathie Lee Melissa Joan Hart; Salt-N-Pepa. 79588 9 a.m. WPXI: Muntel Williams Slowing aging processes. (CC) 44830 10 a.m.

WTAE: Maury Povich Substance abuse. (CC) 20149. 10 a.m. WPXI: Jenny Jones -Romantic encounters. (CC) 74651 11 a.m.

WTAE: Sally Jessy Raphael Sonny Bono trib- ute. 10435 -1 Ju "iv 'V. 1.SVY;-.-- '1 I I J-'' i f5 r- -v a 0 -m v1', a i 1 -lum-imm-- I lllMII MBMIMfctiailnliiili 1 1 mil illllittBBMHMBMMIIllll' llllllfMI I HUM Chris Haston S. Crutchfield, Wayne Knight, John Lithgow and Irina Pantaeva in post-Bowl episode of "3rd Rock from the Sun." Post-Super Bowl episode may just alienate casual viewers Only Sally (Kristen Johnston) suspects something is up. "A woman like that isn't supposed to.

be available to a high school boy That's why we got him a tion to Playboy." What's up is a VenUsian plot, led bv the evil Prell (Johnson), to take WPXI: Leeza Controlling spoiled children. 99217 4 p.m. KDKA: Rosie 0'Donnell Lili Taylor; Martina McBride; Stone Phillips. (CC) '1052 4 p.m. WTAE: Oprah Winfrey Millennial resolutions.

(CC) 6120 5 p.m. WPTT: Ricki Lake Premature breakups 26217 9 p.m. PCNC: NightTaik With John Mclntire Former NFL official Jerry Bergman. 11 p.m. WPTT: Keenen Ivory Wayans David Chappelle; Leah Reminl; Michael Rapaport; Wu-Tang Clan.

(CC) 81052 11:30 p.m. HBO; Oennis Miller Live -Keenen Ivory Wayans, (CC) 319323 11.35 pm. KDKA: Late Show With David Letterman John Travolta; Detroit Piston Grant Hill; Sinead O'Connor. (R) (CC) 9285101 11:35 p.m. WPXI: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno John Lithgow; actress Famke Janssen.

3084149 12:05 a.m. WTAE: Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher Brook Lee, Miss Universe 1997; Elmore Leonard; Dave Chappelle; Esai Morales. (CC) 9611811 12:35 a.m. KDKA: The Late late Show With Tom Snyder Drew Carey; author Martin Amis. (CC) 6249958 12:35 a.m.

WPXI: Late Night With Conan O'Brien Actress Rose McGowan; band Huffamoose. (CC) 7," A 712:35 a.m.WPGH: Vibe "Beverly juhnson, '2749322 So far, it seems to be working. Leno on Sunday Sportscaster Bob Costasarid fitness guru Richard Simmons will be -the exclusive "Tonight Show" corre-spondents from San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium for the show's super rsowi aaaii cast on Sundav at 11:35 p.m. Leno's scheduled guests in studio are actress Jenny McCarthy, San Diego Zoo's Joan Embery with am- mals, and country music sensation Shania Twain, who will perform "You're Still the One" from her new album "Come on Over." "The Tonight Show's" Super Bowl edition is the first original weekend broadcast ever. The show will be taped immediately following the game and will air after Rock from the Sun" and local news.

Barbra sings Barbra Streisand will take the stage during CBS's Feb. 25 tele- cast of the Grammy Awards, according to a report in the trade paper Daily Variety. Streisand is slated to sing a duet with ueune Won Hmo, according to the report Als, appearing on the show: Luciano 1 Pavarotti, Ba)rfaceSteve and LeAnn Rimes. By ROBERT BIANCO TV Ecl.tor, Post-Gazette If this is NBC's idea of alien res- urrection, the network had better; get out of the sci fi business. It's widely acknowledged, even 'h thp folks at NRf" that thp npt- work bungled its handling of "3rd Rock from the Sun." By moving the show from Sunday to Wednesday, NBC turned the Emmy-winning hit into a falling star and made a show that once looked hip look passe.

In a desperate shot at show revival, NBC is sending the "Rock" back to Sunday and not just any Sunday; Super Bowl Sunday. "3rd Rock" will fill the post-game 10 clnt uith a siinpr-plahnratp f.ui. i guest-heavy one-hour episode reminiscent of the special episode "Friends" did for the same spot. Following the "Friends" example, the "3rd Rock" special is equally big, equally hvped, and equally disappointing. Surely that's not what the network had in mind? No doubt "3rd Rock's" Sunday special will draw viewers.

What is -'fiAiihtfiit it whettfcrlhtvlll see afiy-. thing that will rr7Ate-lhJrfi want to come back Which is' a "'is'much funnier than this bloated Bowl episode '3RD ROCK FROM -j "THE SUN' WHEN: Sunday after the -vf i Super Bowl (around 1 0 p.m.) on NBC -may lead them to believe. Pandering to what NBC imagines to be the Super Bowl audi-' ence's taste and mentality, "3rd Rock's" Sunday episode finds the show's resident aliens battling "leggy babes from beyond." The are acted (or, more accurately in most cases, embodied) by models Cindy Crawford, Angie Everhart, Irina Pantaeva and Beverly Johnson. The show opens with a mystery: Why are gorgeous women coming on to the geeky men of Rutherford, Ohio? As we meet them, Dick (John Lithgow) is dating Gabriella (Pantaeva, who has an engaging, pixieish persona and an accent that renders most of her dialogue -incomprehensible); '(Jdseph Gordon-Levitt) is dating Chloe (Everhart); and Harry (French Stewart) is dating over the Earth, it up to sally ana her friends to save the planet and protect the sanctity ot the Super Bowl. As always, "3rd Rock" has m6Ve on its mind than sex though sex remains one of its favorite topics.

As it rambles too slowly along, the show stops to make fun of beauty regimens, beauty products, the super-model cult and Super Bowl hype. (A TV watcher eagerly awaits "the first preview of the NBC Super Bowl pre-pregame For awhile, the show's talented regular cast manages to keep things amusing, but as the show dissolves into a prolonged chase, the material grows too thin even for them. As for the models, the only real acting demands are placed on Crawford, and as she proved in "Fair Game," she isn't up to tijem, twv ft Still', maybe they'reon to Borne; thing here. Maybe there is a Venusian plot.going on a.plpt tq destroy a perfectly fine sitcom..